


Black, White and Grey

by FlashDriver



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:02:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23159728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashDriver/pseuds/FlashDriver
Summary: Just looking to pass the time in Crisis City, Silver brings Blaze a board game that becomes a part of their life's routine. Through life, death and old age, they found something to share in and enjoy whenever the world's end is beyond their reach. This game of skill, not of luck, became so intertwined with their lives and came to reflect how they'd lived.
Relationships: Blaze the Cat/Silver the Hedgehog
Kudos: 17





	Black, White and Grey

Something was bugging Blaze, intermittently pulling her attention from her reading. The kitten, now bordering on being a young feline, was laying on her belly with a book in her right hand and a small flame in her left, lounging across the bizarre set-up that’d become her most recent bed. Her current home was unlike any she’d had prior; the building wasn’t an abandoned house or an old flat or really like any shop she’d lived in. No, for the reasons of both security and comfort, she and her partner had chosen a rather different abode this time; a garage on the edge of the aptly dubbed Crisis City, used decades ago to both repair and customise vehicles.

Her current bed consisted of the backseat of a rather undamaged red car while his was the open boot of a semi-deconstructed pickup truck, both hoisted up on metal pistons. They’d both made modifications to the cars in order to make them more practical and homely (the boot had been half filled with a cut-to-size mattress while Blaze’s backseat had gained various pillows) but the arrangement was still just a little fresh and strange. Near the centre of the room, far above her, firelight light filtered into the building through a widely spaced ventilation grate and the garage’s sole entrance was a heavy, sheet metal, door that had to be slid up rather than pushed open. 

That wasn’t what was bothering Blaze though, she’d selected this home and so she knew it to be an especially good fit. The building’s location meant that they were far from where most of Iblis’ lingering spawn prowled and, even if they did get close, the sturdy walls and metal door would surely both obscure and protect them. No, two rather foolish things were drawing her attention. The first of those silly things was the absence of her partner, Silver; the short grey hedgehog had gone out in search of food and, though she had faith in his abilities, was late returning. She truly did believe in him, he’d navigated the city and brought home food hundreds of times by now, but every time he took even a moment too long, a creeping worry would sneak its way into her mind. Bother number two was even sillier, unlike her first problem, she could solve bother number two herself, but she feared that it would set a bad precedent. 

Upon arriving at their new home, the pair had fairly divided chores between them; who had to do what came down to how much the other person was already doing and how useful their powers were for the named task. For example, Blaze’s pyrokinetic abilities meant that she was in charge of purifying water, shaping metal to form defences, dispelling fires, cauterising wounds, and, though she thought herself awful at it, cooking. She had additional tasks unrelated to her powers of course, she typically took responsibility for scouting missions and other simple tasks, but that was to balance things out as Silver’s powers were so useful. The hedgehog’s psychic abilities made him suited to scavenging of all types, lighting the dark, construction, transport, excavation, demolition and, the job he was ignoring through a present salvaging excursion, tidying. With little more than a wave of his hand and a few thoughts, Silver could not only return objects to their assigned locations but strip dust and debris from surfaces, bundle hair and fur into a disposable ball and tear stains free from various materials. In terms of those latter issues their home was relatively clean but, beneath the feline’s reading position, various toys and games littered the floor.

Technically, those objects were shared between them but nine out of ten times it was Silver who’d bring them into their home. While they both heavily read, often exchanging books about both fictional and historical matters, Silver seemed to like finding other distractions from the outside world. Near the centre of the room, having been played just yesterday, was the toppled remains of a most bizarre block stacking game that they’d played; a tower of wooden bricks had been set up and they’d had to gradually remove pieces from it without letting the tower fall. Another game, its pieces scattered near the room’s far wall, had called for them to roll dice in order to progress across a board, scaling ladders and slipping down snakes as they went.

Chance-based endeavours like Monopoly, Yahtzee and all manner of card games were very uncommon and, unfortunately, her least favourite. It felt to her as though there was little skill to them, even if there were strategies that could be employed, enough luck in either direction would often skew the game. He seemed to be getting better at finding games she liked though, that tower game had been predicated on elegance and gentleness and he had previously brought her a variety of word games that did seriously appeal to her. Regardless of the game though, Blaze couldn’t deny that it was always fun to watch his nose wrinkle and panic set in as the hedgehog tried his hardest to escape defeat, regardless of the game type. 

Despite that pleasant thought though, Blaze’s annoyance at the lingering mess in their home was being compounded by worry over his disappearance. She dog-eared her book and set it on the car floor, stacked atop her other tomes, only for a wispy blue hue to begin leaching from the garage’s entrance. With a rumbling roar, the folding metal rose to half its maximum height before quickly slamming itself back to the ground. That green-blue tone lingered within the room, providing a brightness that hadn’t been there prior, though it was much dimmed from its initial flash. Silver the hedgehog was stood just beyond the door, a ludicrously large and overstuffed backpack on his back and a proudly beaming smile on his face.

“Blaze, Blaze, Blaze!” He barrelled toward her, half hovering to account for the surely ludicrous weight on his back, and pulled her into a crushingly tight hug, “I found the final pieces I need!”

Silver’s white fur was dirtied with soot, but she couldn’t see any new injuries on him. The hedgehog’s runs into the city often resulted in a new burn or a few cuts but, despite his lateness, this occasion seemed to be an exception. The only real shift in his appearance was that change in colouration and the mess that was his quills; he was as grubby and short as ever.

“The final… pieces?” She questioned, managing to return his contact but finding herself rather perplexed. Blaze managed to shift to look him in the eye, only for his head to rub against hers, “I thought you were out searching for food?”

“Oh, I was, and I found lots!” He promised, pulling back just a little, “But I’m not hungry, I’ve got something I want to give you, I’ve wanted to finish it for so long now!”

This time, it was Blaze who kept a tight grip. Before Silver could pull away and slip off his bag, she made sure to hold him and catch his eyes in hers. He was plainly excited, extremely over enthusiastic about whatever she’d found, but the young cat knew she had to get out ahead of that, “I’m not hungry yet either, and I can’t deny that I’m curious, but you have a job to do, Silver.”

She thought he might refuse at first, distract himself and promise to do it later, but he’d heard the seriousness in her tone and, having glanced over her shoulder, had probably seen the mess he’d left. As he slightly sighed and half grumbled, she opted to release him. Unwilling to let his excitement flicker out and clearly wanting to do this as quickly as possible, the hedgehog shrugged the bag from his shoulders only for his psychic powers to gently lower it to the ground. He stepped to the centre of the room and raised his hands, cyan light flared around his body only to burst and cast from his palms; manifesting in almost every direction. She watched with glee as he began to conduct their surroundings, a smile broke onto her lips and her tail couldn’t help but flicker.

Orbs and globules of cyan light encased cards, game pieces and other knick-knacks before shooting them in all directions like some sort of insane wind. Boxes would pop themselves upright only for their pieces to miraculously align and tumble into their containers, the cards shuffled themselves in the air before miraculously forming a full deck and all of Silver’s books rapidly stacked themselves into neat piles. There was a clunk behind the feline, she turned to find that the four doors of the pickup truck had opened and that the seats and floor were rapidly being topped by various games and objects.

The constant whooshing and humming, sparkling and glowing of his psychic powers fully held the young cat’s attention. Just as she thought the display might be ending, Silver’s bag burst open and new masses entered their homely environment. Cans, bottles, tubs and packets raced their way across the room and found themselves spots on a series of metal shelves that’d once held tools and engine parts alike. In no more than a handful of minutes, following a final sweep with his aura that condensed all their homes dust and dirt into a palm sized orb, their home was fully clean. With a point of his finger, he briefly reopened the door and bowled the dirty sphere out of their home.

The light from their surroundings faded, now only shining from the bright tattoos on his hands and the cuffs on his extremities, “Alright, is that good enough?”

Blaze quickly turned away from him, realising quite how foolish the enamoured look on her face must have appeared. The skilful use of his powers could capture her attention in a way that nothing else could, a fact that seemed to be embarrassing her more the longer she knew him. Hiding her small blush, she paced the room slightly before noticing an object of interest, what seemed to be the only game box he’d not tidied away. Taking advantage of its position, set beneath his bed-car rather than within it, she knelt down and pulled it out; fully obscuring her face from him. It was unmarked or, rather, the front of the box had been scratched such that there was no name visible.

“Oh, um,” She heard a rustle before his footsteps drummed behind her, “That’s the game I’ve found the last pieces for, I’ve been meaning to give it to you for a while but… I could never find a good set, so I had to make one.”

She turned back to him, hoping the flush had mostly faded from her face, “This is for me?”

“I know you don’t really like a lot of the games we play, but you play them anyway because I find them fun,” He explained, kneeling next to her, “I wanted to find a game that you’d find fun, one that doesn’t involve any luck; only thinking and skill. I read about this game in a couple of stories, people would always say that it was fair and based on intelligence!” He was beaming again, she noticed that his hands were clasped around something small, “It’s called chess, have you heard of it?”

“Chess?” Her head tilted as she parroted him, “I don’t think so…”

With a small gesture, he slipped the lid from the box and revealed its contents. Sat at the top was a semi-see-through plastic bag which looked to mostly contain bottle caps but there were a few strange trinkets scattered among them, beneath that was a small booklet that looked very used and torn and, filling most of the box’s base was a very bizarre playing mat. The bag and booklet carried themselves from the box, but Blaze plucked the board before Silver could take it. It was unlike any gameboard she had seen prior, having no real path through it or clear ending; it was more like a checkerboard pattern she’d seen on clothes and tiles. There was a long crease down its centre, where the board could fold for some kind of carrying and there was a somewhat tarnished plastic sheen to the chequered side, hypothetically in place to protect the board from spillages and dirt. On the left and right of the board were the numbers one through eight while the top and bottom of the board spelled A through H. 

By the time Blaze had turned back to Silver, the hedgehog had shifted. Two pillows had been pulled from his bed and set opposite one another, the booklet had been flipped open in the air and he was rummaging through the bottlecap filled bag. Simultaneous to all this, he was looking at her and beaming again; just waiting for her to join him. Rolling her eyes, she rose from her position and took her seat, unfolding the board between them.

“So, what is this game? How do you play?” She asked, attempting to hide her curiosity.

“O-Okay, um,” The pages ruffled and flipped, he was grinning but he already looked a little confused, “So chess is a game where we both have an army which consists of six different types of warrior, six different chess pieces as they’re called, and each type can do different things. We go back and forth taking turns, only able to move one piece per turn. If a piece lands on an opponent’s piece’s spot, then it defeats that piece and takes it out of the game. The point of the game is to defeat your opponent’s king, their most important piece… does that make sense?”

Having arranged the words in her mind for a moment, considering them, Blaze nodded.

“Let’s go piece by piece because there are a lot of them,” with a wave of his hand, a pair of rings emerged from the bag and landed on the board, near its centre, “This is the king. It starts here and can move one space in any direction,” As if to emphasise his point, Silver made his king jump back and forth in the various ways it could move.

The ring on the hedgehog’s side had a gold band with a large onyx shape affixed to it while Blaze’s own was almost the opposite. A pearl was stuck to its front and its metal was very pale, she couldn’t tell whether it was Silver or platinum. Catching his gaze, Blaze nodded affirmatively again, “I think I understand so far.”

“This is the queen, it’s a very important piece too; she can move in any single direction but, unlike the king, she can move as far as it wants in that direction,” Next to the rings, Silver set an earring. His ended with a large onyx teardrop while hers was another shiny pearl.

“So, they can move like this…” Blaze picked up her earring, shifting from D8 to A8 to D4 before holding it back over D8, “Or even…” She shifted her queen from D8 straight forward, putting it in position to defeat Silver’s queen, and looked at him expectantly.

“O-Oh, well, yes but it won’t be as easy as that,” He looked a little flustered, it reminded her of the face he wore when he knew he was going to lose. Perhaps this game would be fun, especially if it involved more thinking and skill like he said, “And if you did that then my king could take your queen, so we’d be in the same position. It’ll be easier to win if you have lots of valuable pieces while I have fewer,” He explained.

“I see, that makes sense…” She hummed, returning her queen to her home.

“Next are the bishop pieces, they’re a lot simpler than the king and queen. These ones can move as far as they want, but only diagonally,” Blaze expected more jewellery to come from the bag but, much to her surprise, the hedgehog produced four small seashells. She recalled their shape from a book of ocean creatures that she’d found as well as a book of cuisine, his two were small muscle shells while hers were clamshells. 

“Why shells?” She couldn’t help but ask, “You took the jewellery from one shop, weren’t there broaches that would work?”

“There were, but…” He seemed to have to consider his own reasoning, “The king and queen are supposed to match, you know? They’re together, they’re meant to be special… right? Even though there are two sides and each side’s members are supposed to match, I felt like they should match more.”

“You’re so naïve,” No wonder it’d taken him so long to gather pieces, he could have made this much easier on himself if he hadn’t followed that rule. Still, the thoughtfulness he had put into the game was becoming more and more apparent. He’d successfully hidden this for a few weeks at least, something especially difficult for the hedgehog, “Go on.”

“These are the rooks, they’re kind of like the bishops. They can move however far they want but only in straight directions,” From the bag hovered two pairs of miniature castle turrets, their undersides coated in a fluffy grey material. They took their place not next to the bishops but at the corners of the board, leaving a one square gap. He caught her eye just after she noticed them, “Don’t worry, I’ll explain that piece later. Do you understand how bishops and rooks work?”

“Yes, they seem rather simple, but I suppose positioning well will take a great deal of thought,” Blaze acknowledged, examining her right rook. It was a rather peculiar little castle; she couldn’t imagine what its purpose had been prior to their game. It felt as though it was made from some kind of heavy stone, perhaps marble? It was a little bigger than the other pieces too, almost exceeding the box that was meant to contain it.

“These rooks were the only actually chess pieces I could find in a nice condition,” Silver explained, likely having caught her curiosity and chosen to clue her in, “There weren’t really any sets of groups of four left for the set with the board I found, and the other pieces from the rook’s set had been knocked from a table and smashed. The board these rooks came with was really nice too, but it fell apart when I picked it up.”

From these alone, she couldn’t imagine what a true chessboard would look like. Perhaps the royal pieces would be crowns but what of the bishops? “It’s… interesting.”

“Now for the most common pieces, these are called pawns,” Suddenly, the plastic bag began to jangle as though there was a live creature within it. 

Twenty-five bottle caps popped and flipped their way free from the sack and began to tap their way onto the board’s front lines; they lined up in front of the named pieces. The caps belonged to two different drinks; the row closer to Silver belonged to a rather common cherry cola beverage, advertised in black and striped with red, while those closer to Blaze were white and derived from a beverage she hadn’t seen before. Each one was marked with the simple phrase Cream Soda in a pink, cursive, font. He revealed a final cap from his palm and set it on her end of the board, completing her line.

“It was hard to find good ones, I got really lucky at a couple of newsagents,” Silver explained, before beginning to psychically show the motions with some of the pawns, “Okay, so, usually pawns can only move one space at a time and only straight forward, but there are a couple of conditions that can change that. The first time they move, they can move two spaces forward and, rather than beating other pieces by moving straight forward, they defeat others by moving one space diagonally forward,” Having displayed this using two pawns, allowing her piece to take his, he returned them to their opposing ends before displaying the next manoeuvre, “However, that means when a pawn is directly in front of another pawn or another piece, it cannot move at all,” He’d progressed the turns such that two of their pawns had come head to head, only when another of his caps came diagonal of her own, allowing it to be claimed and for their initial pawns to pass each other. 

That all done, he looked at her to confirm she understood. Now the game was starting to make more sense, but with the pawn line in place she’d had a thought, “Just as pawns can’t pass through other pawns by going straight, you can’t pass through your own pieces. My queen couldn’t just jump over the pawns, is that correct?”

“That’s right, yep!” He was beaming, clearly taking her inquisitiveness as a sign that she was into the game. He wasn’t wrong to be honest, this game seemed to be entirely without luck; it had very serious, very clearly set, rules that both players had to follow too. She couldn’t land on go to jail three times in a row or just keep rolling ones, this was a game of thinking and skill, “There’s only one kind of piece that can jump over others, they jump over others no matter what and only fight where they land. They’re the one I had so much trouble with, the knights!”

From behind him, Silver drew out four small masses of plastic and set them in board’s remaining empty slots. It took Blaze picking up one of hers and thoroughly frowning at it to understand what he’d used to represent the knights. They were small, plastic, toy soldiers that had been melted from the waist down; the heated plastic had been flattened at the bottom in order to make a base of sorts. Hers looked to be small white bears, perhaps meant to be polar bears, while Silvers were black cats.

“It took me a while to find something else that would fit the board,” Silver grinned, before beginning to show the piece’s potential movements again, “Okay, so, knights can move one space and two spaces in another direction, left, right, forwards or backwards, in any order. They can’t go three forwards or two forwards and one back, they always have to move in the shape of a capital L basically.” 

Putting his knight in the centre of the board, he showed all eight positions the piece could land in.

“The knight jumps over everything, friend or foe, to reach its final resting spot. They only take other pieces where they finally stop, just like how every other piece must stop when it takes a piece, so a knight can be surrounded by other pieces but unable to take any,” Silver explained before rather awkwardly admitting, “They’re a little bit confusing to be honest, I don’t really get why they work like that, but that’s all the pieces. Here, we can share the rules in case either of us get stuck,” He presented her with the paper he’d been half reading from and half recalling. In hindsight, she probably could have just read that, but he was clearly very excited to share this, “So, do you want to play?”

The eagerness on his face had presented an opportunity that Blaze couldn’t help but give in to yet, simultaneously, take advantage of. She folded her arms, looking off as if she was still considering it. Worry flitted across his face, just as she saw his fists basket and wriggle, she gave an answer, “I suppose you’ve convinced me.”

“Great! Alright,” Almost immediately, rather than puppet the pieces as he had prior, Blaze watched as he leant in to use his hands… only to catch himself and pause, “Oh, black gets to go first…” He seemed to suddenly panic, gesturing a little wildly, “I-I set it up this way you can see what I do and learn how to play more? I’ve had a couple of thoughts about how to play before, I swear I’m not trying to che-

“It’s fine, Silver,” Seeing his panicked face was only enticing her more, she had already begun to form some semblance of a plan, though she was sure it would collapse partway through this first game. Still, they’d surely have plenty of matches to scheme and learn over, “That makes sense, make your move.”

“Okay, a-and, right, if you get in a position where you could beat my king next turn then you have to say check. If you get my king in a position where he’d get beat no matter what then you say checkmate,” He quickly recited, fumbling to excitedly shift the G2 pawn up to G4. 

Without so much as blinking, Blaze took a similar step and walked her C7 pawn two places forward. Next Silver moved his knight on Blaze’s left, it was only a small, gentle, shift, but Blaze’s tail was beginning to swish. She slid her queen out from behind the wall of pawns, he wasted his next turn positioning his bishop such that it might move further soon. Comfortable with her queen’s position, threatening the knight yet unable to take it due to his row of pawns behind it, Blaze was free to prepare a further weapon; she shifted her left knight out of holding, the next turn it would be able to take his first moved pawn. He struggled for a moment on his next turn, Blaze’s tail batted more, but eventually opted to set up his bishop so if the pawn was slain the knight would fall next. Knowing it safe, Blaze now casually walked her second knight directly into the bishop’s path; flanked by pawns, it would go untouched.

It’d only been a few turns, yet the board was already messy with deadlocks and threats. Her tail had gone from scarcely shifting to fluttering behind her, every so often making a sound as it traced across the stone floor. Blaze’s eyes flickered to him, his teeth were already grit and his starting plan was plainly in shambles, his intent to utilise his bishop quickly was inferior to her freeing of the queen. He couldn’t even free his own queen now, not swiftly at least, his own knight was in the way! There was no luck in this, he hadn’t been put in this place by mere fortune, she was teasing this reaction from him.

Having almost made at least three moves before settling, Silver fretfully pushed his left pawn to threaten her knight. Swiftly, Blaze moved her knight to freedom on its right side. He double moved the pawn in front of his king to resume that offensive pressure, but that merely made Blaze smirk. They were so in sync, she could read him so well, this was oh so easy. The pyrokinetic’s move was simple, her queen took one step backwards and threw her eyes back to him. His face twisted and he looked back to her, entirely confused, before, just as she’d expected, he touched his queen and went to move her. It was then that he realised; her queen had backed down from the fight with his knight to engage in a far more important battle. The hedgehog couldn’t move his queen for, if he did, then they’d both lose that important piece and, Blaze liked to think, she’d be in a better position. He’d made an opening in his defence for no real reason.

Panic was even more clear now; Silver moved the pawn in front of his queen to block her queen’s path. That only served to essentially trap the queen behind her own guard, the piece was practically useless now, for two turns at least, so Blaze let one of her right pawns take its first step forward to align with the first piece his queen could possibly take, a mere pawn. Silver, seeming not to understand this, moved his queen forward in preparation for next turn; just as predicted. Blaze shifted her right knight into alignment in front of that pawn, directly in front of enemy lines and yet untouchable; stationing it so that the queen would only have one option if she left her cell, to take the knight and fall to a pawn.

“W-Wow, you’re already really good at this Blaze,” He stammered, tugging at his chest fur, “Was I right? Is this the kind of game you like?”

“Yes, I think this is already my favourite of our games. It’s so much more exhilarating,” To match her praise, she chided him, “You’re obviously stalling, Silver.”

“I-I wasn’t, you just looked happy and… uhm…” Silver stared at the board again, clearly thinking hard. Unwilling to touch his queen, the psychic opted to move the knight that’d been previously trapped by her queen; it shifted from C6 to D4, behind Blaze’s knight. A bad move, Blaze instantly freed her bishop to threaten the knight; yes, it could be taken by a pawn if she acted on the threat, but now no matter the act, it had a price. Now made wary again, he made a more pointless move and shifted his previously unmoved knight forward. This was Blaze’s chance to capitalise! He had made an aimless move; she could gain more initiative and-

An earthquake shook the room, its thunderous force causing the very cars they slept in to screech and shift atop their platforms. Before that sound could truly proliferate though, Silver threw his hand forward; in an instant, he and Blaze were wrapped in thick cyan light. Just as he was protecting them from falling, he was equally defending them from the roof potentially caving in. The shifting of earth passed quickly but in its short period, Blaze caught the change in expression on Silver’s face. The awkwardness in his frame and that goofily stunned look had drained from his face. Unfortunately, his reflex hadn’t extended to their game and the pieces had been sent tumbling in all directions. 

His gaze fell to that and, though a look of regret instantly cut across his brow, but the hedgehog turned his open palm from Blaze to the large metal door. It folded itself upward and coiled out of their way, Silver set off first only for Blaze to quickly follow. An aftershock almost tripped him as they arrived outside, but, beyond it, there was no sign of change on the almost empty road stretching beyond their house. That meant the threat wasn’t close but that didn’t mean they didn’t have to deal with it, she very well knew what these earthquakes likely signified.

With a flash of cyan aura, he jumped up and onto the roof of their building. Upon landing, he crouched and extended a hand; she ran, jumped, caught his hand and was very easily pulled to the top. Despite the small height of their building, hot winds whipped and blustered with a terrifying force before, in an instant, entirely vanishing. The two of them managed to rise and turn towards the city, only to have their fears confirmed. Far away, but not too far away, a skyscraper had been uprooted by a magma flood. Among that molten mass, towering almost as tall as that building had once been, hunched Iblis; the demonic flame that had destroyed this world.

They could already see great pimples of flame bursting on its back, unleashing a new load of its spawn on the world as it awakened from its slumber and resumed its destruction. She tore her gaze from it and looked to him, finding that his adorable panic had now fully fled and given way to a steely and determined frown. His entire body language had changed, going from so soft and slack to prickly and hardened. Even though he’d worked for weeks gathering pieces, even though he’d practically begged her to play with him, he’d already accepted that they’d have to put their game on hold.

Gently, she squeezed his hand and held it tightly to her side.

Their fun and games had been interrupted by the inevitable, the reason such games weren’t more commonplace in this long-destroyed world. They were kids, if what the books said was true, they shouldn’t have to endure this, but there was no point in crying about it. Acting was their only option. Not today, they weren’t ready, but tomorrow perhaps. 

They would fight to resume their peaceful life, just hoping that maybe, one day, they’d get to play as much as they wanted.

\---

The casual caress of late morning sunbeams fell upon an elder feline’s temple and gently dried the drowsiness from her. The covers still engulfed the monarch, bundling comfortably around her thin frame, and the softness of her mattress was hard to deny, but a certain figure laying with her, shifting ever so slightly, brought her eyes to flicker and remain open. She saw him first as a mess of grey fur, a mess whose chest her head was currently atop, but with a small shift and a fair amount of blinking, her smile curved broadly as she observed his sleeping form. His body had changed a lot these past few years.

He’d grown both physically, now standing a good head above her, and to better fit his name. Fur that’d once bordered on being white was now cast a steelier colouration; from quill to tail, he now more Silver than ever before. It wasn’t fully consistent, the centre of his chest fur was fighting the change far better than the rest of his body, but age was undeniably making its mark on him. Smile lines framed his muzzle, he had more wrinkles now than scars. Blaze knew she was the same of course, the tips of both her tail and ponytail had long blended with the rest of her body, but those changes were likely less obvious to him than they were to her. At every given opportunity, he’d still call her beautiful, just as she still thought he was handsome.

Blaze the cat had entered her twilight years; she’d arrived at age eighty just last month and he’d be following her in a handful of weeks. They’d both grown slower with age but, admittedly, the impact of that time was a little more visible in her day to day life, even if Silver was undoubtedly struggling more. He would rarely be seen walking without some kind of psychic aid either around his body or manifested as a walking cane and, were it not for his want to hold her hand, he probably would have been flying everywhere. Meanwhile, while climbing buildings and demolishing robots was likely out of the question, Blaze’s body had remained a little firmer due to her constant physical training.

She watched his bright yellow eyes finally flicker open, quickly falling on her. Before either of them could speak a word, a smile had snuck its way onto his muzzle, “Good morning, Blaze,” He managed to coo.

“Good morning,” She gently shifted up his body, bringing her forehead to bump and rub against his before she gently leaned in to peck his lips. Even in her older age, even having done this thousands of times, that contact still sent tingles down her spine and brought her tail to swish, “How were your dreams?”

In the wake of her works, his nose poked and rubbed against hers before he claimed another gentle kiss, “They were wonderful,” Another kiss was taken, “You were in them.”

She waited for a further explanation but got none, “That’s all?”

“That’s more than enough, everything else was just a bonus,” His nose rubbed against hers again. 

Even at this old age, he still blushed as he tried to speak sweet nothings to her, “You’re so naïve…”

“You’re so pretty,” He mumbled back, “How did you sleep?”

“Wonderfully, I had my favourite pillow after all… but if I keep lying like that, I’ll surely put a crick in my neck,” She half teased and half confessed, finally pulling away a little, “Oh well, these are the sacrifices we make…”

As a pair who’d known and lived through sacrifice after sacrifice, these little things didn’t bother them at all. While others feared this point of life, they were relishing a time they never thought they’d see let alone see together. 

“Well, if yours gets bad then you can have mine,” He goofily promised, sitting up to follow after her.

“How thoughtful,” She purred, slinking away again and pulling back the covers. Little dances like this were how they typically woke up on easy days like this; it looked as though he was chasing her when really, she was toying with her prey, “Can I have the rest of you too?”

“Well, you gave me your heart,” She’d made it out of the bed, he was sitting on its edge, “I don’t think I have anything even half as valuable, so you can have whatever you want.” 

“I don’t know about that,” She leaned in again, cupping his cheek and kissing his lips, “You gave me yours after all.”

She gently dragged her hand from his face and stepped away, applying the tiniest bit more pressure with her wedding banded finger. They were coming up on sixty years married, their diamond wedding anniversary. The Sol dimension would be abuzz about it as it grew closer still, but they’d already made their private plans. A trip to the past of that other dimension, a time that they knew would be peaceful but that they also knew they looked old enough not to be recognised by their (or anyone else’s) younger selves. They’d found that those pockets of time were the most private spots in the universe, perfect for relaxing. Still, they’d visit their friend’s present too before heading home; it’d been a good couple of months since their last time traveling excursion.

Getting dressed was easy, her wardrobe hadn’t changed too much over the years; some more comfortable white trousers had taken the place of her tights and a bun had stolen her ponytail’s place. Silver’s, meanwhile, had gone from eclectic in his youth to more regular during adulthood before now resting in a vaguely wizard like place. His choice to wear robes did suit him, and the cold wracked him quite badly nowadays, but the loss of visible chest fur was a grave sacrifice. Still, the baggy sleeved cyan shawl did look very comfortable on him and the glasses that age had required him to wear for reading rather completed the look.

“Do you want to play some more today,” He made the offer, rolling his shoulders and wrists, “I don’t think we’ve got anything planned…”

“I don’t think we do, no… and they’d know where to find us if something came up,” She led, smiling again, “But you remember how that game is going, don’t you? Just like the last few have.”

“You’re underselling yourself, calling it a few,” He admitted, pulling his fluffy quills into a loose ponytail, “But, whether I win or lose, you know I love playing with you.”

“Well, in that case,” She snuck her arm around his, “Shall we depart?”

It took him no more than a glance to their large bedroom window to push it open, parting the curtains and revealing the balcony. After a few steps across soft carpet, the clacking of shoe on stone entered her ears. The royal garden lay beneath them, in all its resplendent glory. Rosebushes of five different colours cut maze-like channels through the grounds, leading lily fields and foxgloves and all manner of wonderful places. The pond would be so full of life today, spring was just beginning to turn to summer, and all the plants were in prime condition. Their goal was no outdoor spot though, the sight of their games was central to the entire garden; a metal and glass structure painted white, the royal summerhouse. During her childhood she’d thought it a pompous and useless building and, to be fair, it still was, but at least they’d found it some kind of function.

As they reached the small wall that guarded the balcony’s ledge, Blaze felt a certain weightlessness overcome her form. Soon her legs had glided up and into his right arm, his left hand coming to hold between her shoulders even though his psychic light was doing most of the effort.

Regardless of that fact, as she looked up and into her husband’s eyes. Sometimes, Blaze still couldn’t help but smile like some foolish schoolgirl with a crush, “Even after all these years, you can still sweep me off my feet.”

His cheeks reddened, she watched him shift a little closer to kiss her forehead. It was then, entirely nonchalantly, Silver jumped onto the wall with her in his arms, “Ready?”

She nodded and he stepped off, but neither of them fell. Instead, Silver began to casually walk them through the air as though they were still on the ground. Her fear of heights had vanished half a century ago, having a boyfriend turn husband who could fly had certainly helped with that, but her gaze still refused to leave his aged features for either the sky or lovely the lovely scenery they were passing over. He looked so content, walking through the air with her in his arms; he’d carried her in the life before this one but never worn such a relaxed face. It looked so good on him. As his eyes collided with hers again, she couldn’t help but match his look as she snuggled a little deeper into his glow.

Gradually, the clouds that framed his face drifted further and further away. Despite the glow that lingered around them, Blaze began to hear the hedgehog’s light footfalls before the door of the summerhouse seemed to open itself. Finally, she tore her gaze from him and saw their private place; a small table with cushioned metal chairs stood in the middle of a roughly hemisphere glass and metal room, potted plants were stationed around the room’s edge as well as a small tap to draw water from. As they approached, the mess they’d left on the table became clearer; their chessboard, tea set, various teas and small pile of books had gone untouched since yesterday. She was gently lowered onto her chair, pushed in with a combination of psychic power and his own touch. 

Before he could drift to his side of the table, she caught his hand and gestured him down; another kiss was planted, this time on his cheek, “Thank you, Silver.”

“Any time,” He rubbed his muzzle against hers again before rising and rounding the table, his fingers fell upon where she’d kissed him.

As he sat, a cyan glow overcame their tea set and carried it through the air. While it went to the tap for cleaning, she watched as he leaned in and marvelled at their prior game before taking a similar position herself. They’d played four yesterday, having to stop part way through their fifth for a dining arrangement with their family. Curiously, this board composition looked incredibly familiar; even if it wasn’t one she’d seen in this lifetime. Sitting across from him like this, today more than ever, reminded her of that first game they’d ever played together. Perhaps they’d finally finish it today.

She was to go first but she already knew what she’d be doing, his movements were far more interesting. Next turn he’d move his knight again, just as he had at the end of their last yesterday, he’d surely freed it from its starting point for a reason… though one of his pawns was threatening her knight, when had that happened? The tea pot, now full of water, floated over and was set atop a small tripod with a metal dish set beneath it. With a wave of her hand, Blaze placed a small flame to begin and bring the water to boil.

Blaze made her play, bringing their knights face to face; she moved her one from F5 to H4. 

As anticipated, he moved his knight from H3 up to F4; he was taking a more offensive stance than she was. Even if her queen was in a better position, he was descending on her, it was time for a change of pace. She moved her far left pawn a single space from its starting position, priming it to take or be taken by one of his pawns in the immediate future. He had three real options; he could take the pawn and have it be taken by her rook next turn, leave his pawn to die and let her pawn take his (threatening his rook in the immediate future) or move that pawn forward, making it quite useless but slowing her rook’s advance. He opted to take the pawn, a play that Blaze thought was suboptimal.

“That’s the first piece taken this whole game,” Silver seemed to realise.

“It’ll be far from the last,” Blaze casually contested, immediately pushing her rook up to claim his murderous pawn.

As she took the small black figurine between her fingers, she couldn’t help but marvel at it slightly. They had received many chess sets over the years but this one, a wedding gift from Sonic and Amy, was their favourite by far. The rosy hedgehog still thought it was so cute that they played a lot of board games, especially this one; she seemed to think the royal aspect was rather fitting. This was a proper marble chess set; its pieces were all smooth to the touch and had a weight that made every move seem meaningful. The clack of his rook and king castling, a move that they hadn’t even known about in their prior life, as he perfectly read one of her stratagems was evidence enough of that. If she moved her rook to check it, it’d be taken by his knight only for that knight to be taken by a pawn. 

It wasn’t worthwhile, Blaze instead opted to move her knight from H4 to F3, claiming his bishop on white and unleashing the first worthy call of the match, “Check.” 

His hand forced; Silver ducked his king all the way into the far-left corner. The feline found herself smirking as he made that retreat. She knew that move had been foreseen on his part, but she had claimed first check just as he had claimed first blood. One was far more indicative of the game than the other and, to commemorate that impact, she somehow doubted he’d anticipated her next move. That white knight moved to D2 and defeated his queen, an action that brought her very tail to swish and the small fire she’d conjured to burst and ember with delight. 

Her knight was quickly taken by his bishop, but the damage was done. His brow had crumpled, he was deep in thought; this was the expression she loved to pull from him, the one where he’d push up his glasses and try to look serious. The harder he tried, the cuter Blaze thought it made him look.

Hearing the kettle whistle, she dulled the flame and looked to their various boxes, “What kind of tea do you want?”

“I was thinking mixed berry, are you okay with that?” He managed to ask, thinking hard as she stalled her turn to look at him.

“Of course,” She took their small, heart shaped, infuser and filled it with that colourful purple and red mixture before plopping it into the water.

With her turn, she chose to race her rook forward now; it was pushed from H6 to H4, leaving his king’s guard of a pawn paralysed in front of it and staying out of his knight’s range. Unfortunately, though a less wise individual would leave that entrapment, Silver knew this game well. Her goal hadn’t been to pressure his king so much as claim the knight to the rook’s left, he shifted it from F4 to G2. Blaze now moved her own knight, claiming one of his pawns and threatening his right rook. This game was nearing its end, but she was certain there’d be a slugging match before its conclusion. Silver rushed his black-squared bishop to align with her rook, ensuring a mutual sacrifice of rooks as her knight claimed his first. After that devastation, it was her turn again and the queen was so much freer to move.

The piece with which she shared a title rushed from A6 to D3, claiming a pawn in its path and aligning with his remaining rook. In an attempt to dissuade that piece’s destruction, Silver stepped his king within a single space of the small tower. That was fine though, there were more pieces she could pick off first; the feline’s queen took the pawn immediately behind it and, from its new position, threatened both his knights simultaneously.

Silver was visibly sweating, his teeth hung just above his lip and her little flame sputtered brighter again. He tugged at his robes, aiming for the chest fur that lay beneath it, and psychically pushed his spectacles further up his nose. Smirking wider still, the queen poured both herself and the king cups of tea. He met her eyes briefly and managed to thank her, but this little hedgehog clearly knew that he was in the cat’s grasp, even if he didn’t want to admit it.

Unable to see another move, he shifted his knight onto the starting line of her pawns, “Check.”

It was an adorable attempt to offset her, Blaze simply stepped her king a single pace right and allowed it to escape defeat while, simultaneously, threatening that knight. He picked up his knight again, going to take her rook, only to catch himself and realise her bishop would reverse and make it a mutual sacrifice. He then considered simply setting the knight in front of her pawn, but realised it was still within that bishop’s range. He fully bit his lip, breathing in a sharply; the elder feline relished in that single moment, watching his panic build to the highest it could possibly reach. The game was practically over, but they’d play this out; cats liked to play with their prey, after all. He moved his knight out of the way to hide among two of her pawns.

When he finally finished deliberating, Blaze moved her bishop on white to a spot that would threaten it once again. The knight backed up again, incidentally moving to threaten her queen. After that monarch took a single pace backwards, his horse was on the run again and Silver’s sweat looked as though it might overflow. Unable to determine what to do, he simply had it retreat one last time, pulling in behind two of his four remaining pawns and taking a seat next to Blaze’s own knight.

Blaze dragged her bishop from A6 all the way to F1, claiming his final rook. He only had eight pieces left and four of them were pawns which hadn’t moved this entire game, meanwhile she had only lost three pieces. By the look in his eyes, Blaze knew that he could see the writing on the wall, he knew exactly how she planned to end this and was powerless to stop him. She took a deep sip of her tea; he hadn’t even touched his. His king avenged the rook and claimed her bishop only for Blaze to let her queen take a single step forward and right. Silver moved his cornered knight out again, threatening to take that queen if it moved to put the king in check while the pawn behind it would take that queen if she dared to attack the knight.

Understanding this, Blaze slid the queen two spaces right; she threatened the pawn that would threaten her. The targeted pawn took a step forward, attempting to assure mutual destruction, but Blaze thought that play was sloppy; fear of losing was making him her puppet. As it moved forward, his knight became easy pickings for her.

The hedgehog almost entirely deflated, Blaze reached over and ruffled the back of his quills, “It was a good game but I’m quite certain it’s nearing its end…”

He made a half groaning sound as he walked his remaining knight forward, “I’m not giving up yet,” He never would.

The pyrokinetic walked her queen to the back line, “Check.”

His king jumped forward and between two of his pawns. Blaze went to free her second bishop only to realise an aspect of the board she hadn’t noticed. His bishop was perfectly in line with his king; were it not for the paralysed pawn, this game would have been a lot closer than it presently was. Instead, she opted to move her queen back a space and threaten his two remaining pawns. One jumped forward but, soon enough, both were beat and all he got out of it was shifting his remaining knight closer to the front lines. With only five pieces remaining, Silver moved his knight directly into the path of her king in an attempt to draw it out. Rather than take it like that, Blaze let it dance with her remaining rook and forced it back to where it had been. The pair kept chasing each other, Silver breaking a smile at the silliness, only for her to threaten his king with her rook. It was forced to shift back into the far corner, H1, but the game was over. 

Blaze sent her queen onto the back line, it’d been cornered by that castle and queen pincer-movement, “Checkmate.”

“Well, I think that’s six, it’s not my longest losing streak but we’ll see,” The king briefly flustered himself looking for a way out before admitting defeat, knocking his self-named piece over and finally taking a sip of his tea. In its wake, as always, he was grinning, “You’re still so wonderful at this.”

“After all this time, you’re just easy for me to read and it’s so cute to watch you squirm,” She casually admitted, prompting the very reaction she’d mentioned, “Seeing you flustered just entices me to play better,” She conceded, gesturing to the board, “Another? 

“Of course,” He beamed, shoulders relaxing as he set the board up again, “Seven’s supposed to be a lucky number, isn’t it?”


End file.
